Verizon Confirms It Will NOT Be a WP7 Launch Partner

Verizon Wireless won’t offer a device at the planned fall introduction or at any point this year, Brenda Raney, a Verizon spokeswoman, said today in an interview. The carrier plans to support the new operating system and will probably release a phone in 2011, she said.

I guess Kin didn’t lead to that warm and fuzzy feeling. But look, the iPhone has been doing ok without them and WP7 will be on Sprint and TMo in the US. What do you guys think? Big blow or just a small launch bump that will be dissolved in a few months.

5 COMMENTS

If i were Microsoft, I’d be mad at verizon for charging $30 data plan for the Kin which has a significant effect on the number of Kins sold. Who wants to pay $30 data package for a feature phone?
I think verizon will soon realize their mistake by not releasing a WP7 this year once they see the sales number from other carrier. Just wait and see…

Let me be very clear about this issue. Verizon will regret taking the wait and see approach. I heard from a high ranking employee of Verizon that the talks with Apple aren’t close to being completed so anybody expecting iPhones on Big Red better be prepared to chill. Of course anything can cahnge at a moment’s notice but for now Verizon is seriously risking getting sandwiched between the iPhone and the WinPhone. Lord help Verizon if the ZuneHD2 does in fact get built complete with the ability to play games like the iPod Touch is. Android offers no such additional solution.

Verizon is all in on Android and thats fine as i’m sure they’ll do very well with it but they are going to definitely miss out on extra money.

One of the biggest reasons for Android’s success is Verizon, so I doubt this is good news for Microsoft. Of course, Verizon wasn’t a launch partner for the iPhone or Android and that hasn’t stopped either of them from doing well.